The ongoing crisis in the Crimea will have an effect on the US economy and geopolitics, a US-based economist says.

Duch Darin, an economics professor in Florida, says the Russian annexation of Crimea and ongoing threats to stability in Eastern Europe will affect the European economy, and that in turn will hurt the US.

“When it gets worse and worse, it will affect the EU, and when the EU’s economy is affected, the US economy is affected, as the US has difficulty exporting its goods for sale in the EU,” he said.

The Crimean crisis could raise prices of natural gas, or goods like corn and wheat, in Europe, he said.

Meanwhile, the US economy declined for the first quarter of this year, in the face of winter storms in the East and drought in the West. The US economy could improve in coming months, he said, as people beginning spending more.